I stayed in the hospital for a week.  AJ hyung drove me to Lizzie’s house when I was released.  My leg was hurting like hell, but they gave me some prescription painkillers to help me with the pain.

          “Are you alright dongsaeng?”

          I looked at AJ hyung.  “Yeah, I’m ok.  I’m still a little unsure about this.”

          “You know if she was in your situation, you’d move in with her to take care of her anyways.”

          “She’s my responsibility, of course I’d do that.”

          “You feel she’s your responsibility.  Hoon, maybe she’s just trying to return the generosity and kindness you always have shown towards her.”

          “I wish she’d see the feelings I’m really trying to show.”

          He squeezed my shoulder.  “She will eventually.  Just give her a little more time.  I think right now she’s still blinded by grief.  It’ll be ok.”

          I smiled.  “Thanks hyung.”  I opened my door.

          AJ handed me the crutches I’d have to use for a little while.  “Just take it slow.”  He went up the steps ahead of me and opened the door.

          Lizzie knew I was going to be released today, but I didn’t want to bother her just to pick me up.  She was sleeping on the couch when we got inside.

          I propped my crutches against the table beside the recliner and sat down carefully.

          AJ hyung went to stand in front of Lizzie.  “She looks so peaceful.”

          “Jaeseop, what are you doing in my house?”

          “You’re awake?”

          “No, I’m sleep talking,” she said sarcastically.

          “Someone didn’t get a lot of sleep.”

          “Too much,” she rubbed her face and sat up.  “Hoonie..”

          I waved at her.

          “I was going to come pick you up later.  What time is it?”  She looked at her phone, freaking out at first.

          “Calm down Lizzie-ah.  I picked him up.  He wanted to get out of there right then, that’s all.”

          She sighed.  “Ok.”

          I put the foot rest up and groaned.  “Bad idea..”

          She picked up a pillow from the couch and put it under my leg.  “Dummy,” Lizzie kissed the top of my head.  “You ok?”

          “I’m fine.  Thanks.”

          “Did the doctor give you your prescription?”

          “I left them in hyung’s car outside.”

          AJ smiled, holding up the bottle of painkillers.  “I got them.”

          Lizzie took them.  “Thanks for bringing him AJ.”

          “What can I say?  I have a heart of gold.”

          She smiled, rolling her eyes.  “You and Eli with that same line.  Go home.  He’ll be fine here.”

          “I know he’s in good hands.”  AJ kissed her forehead, and then he hugged me.  “Get better dongsaeng.  U-Kiss is not U-Kiss without you.”

          I laughed.  “Yeah, whatever.  You guys will be fine.”

          “See you later.”  He left the house.

          Lizzie sat on my lap.  “Is my baby gonna be ok?”

          “You know, it should be me saying that to you.”

          She smiled and kissed my forehead.  “Not while you’re injured Hoonie.”

          “Whatever.  You’re still my baby.”  I hugged her waist.

          “I’m glad to see the cuts are healed.”

          “No scars, too.”  I smiled.  “My beautiful face is not ruined.”

          She laughed.  “You’re silly.”

          “Is anyone else here?”

          “Nope.  Just me and you are here, and the huge teddy bear AJ bought you.”

          “Don’t tell him I like Eli hyung’s better.”

          She smiled.  “I won’t.  It’s up in my room right now.”

          I smiled back.  “Waiting for me to snuggle with it?”

          “Mm-hmm.”

          “I like snuggling with you more.”

          Lizzie blushed.  “Are you hungry?”

          “For your food, always.”

          She kissed my cheek.  “What do you want?”

          “Surprise me.”

          Lizzie got up.  “I’ll be right back.”  She brought in the air mattress before she went into the kitchen and helped me lie down on it.  “Better?”

          I smiled.  “I love you so much.”

          She smiled.  “Love you, too.”  She went into the kitchen.

          I fixed the pillows so I could sit up and watch the tv.  Lizzie had put in The Davinchi Code for me to watch.  It didn’t have Korean subtitles, but I was lucky because I’d learned English.

          She came into the living room with a tray holding two steaming bowls of ramen.  Lizzie set it on the coffee table and sat beside me, her hip and mine right beside each other.  Lizzie put the tray on our laps.  “It’s hot Hoonie.”

          I kissed her cheek.  “Thanks Lizzie.”

          She smiled.  “You’re welcome.  I even brought you a bottle of banana milk.”

          “My belly will be happy after this.”  I took the chopsticks and picked up noodles, blowing on them lightly.  I ate them and chewed, happy to not be eating gross hospital food.  “Mm, so yummy.”

          She giggled.  “You’re so silly.”

          “I love your food.  It’s so much better than hospital food.”

          “Thanks Hoonie.”

          “Anytime.”

          We sat beside each other, eating our ramen while we watched the movie.  When we were done, we set the bowls on the tray and put it on the coffee table.  Lizzie leaned against me while we watched the rest of the movie.  I was happy that I was able to hold her in my arms again.

          I rubbed her back when the movie was over.  “Li, are you still awake?”

          “Yeah, I’m awake.  Your hand feels nice on my back.”

          “It’s almost four.  You want to watch something else?”

          “We can watch NCIS or listen to music instead.”

          “You should go get some sharpies and design my cast.”

          She smiled and stood up.  “I’ll be right back.”  Lizzie left the room momentarily and can back with a small box.  She set it down on the air mattress and went over to her iHome, playing the music from her iPod through it.

          I laughed.  “Your aunt has gotten you to fall in love with this show and the music, huh?”

          She nodded.  “Victorious is amazing.  Aunt Carly sent me a DVD for Easter.”

          “Six million times I’m thinking, about your face.  You know I’m crazy for you, let me count the ways.  Too many girls I’m chasing, I’ve had my fun.  But all the time was wasted, girl you know that you’re the one…”

          Lizzie sat cross legged and set a pillow in her lap, laying my leg down on it.  “Hand me the black Hoonie.”

          I opened the box and handed her a black Sharpie.

          “No looking Hoon.”

          “Fine, I won’t look.”  I got my phone and started playing on it.  I didn’t even realize an hour had gone by until Lizzie was calling my name.

          “Hoonie!”

          I looked up.  “What?”

          “Look.”

          I looked over at my cast.  “Whoa.”  Lizzie had drawn a rose with a triple stem, an Axew from Pokémon Black and White, and a character named Gir from Lizzie’s favorite show Invader Zim.  She had signed her name and the date on the side of my cast.

          “Do you like them?”

          “They’re cool.  I like the rose.”

          “I thought you would.”

          “My cast looks better now.  It’s not all boring.”

          “I left space for people to sign still.”

          “I don’t know if I want people to sign it anymore.  Just you,” I smiled.

          She smiled back, getting up to change her music.  “You know what band I will hardly listen to even though I’m good friends with the members?”

          “Who?”

          “Infinite.”

          “I thought you liked them.”

          “Personally, I do.  But their music is a little…strange.  I love Paradise and Before the Dawn though.”

          “Who’s your favorite member?”

          “What way are you talking about Hoon?”  She scrolled down the list of artists.

          “Who do you like the best personality wise and then look wise?”

          “Personality wise,” she started, “I like Sunggyu.  Look wise would either be Woohyun or Dongwoo.”

          “If you had to marry them, which would it be?”

          Lizzie grinned.  “Dongwoo in a heartbeat.  Speaking of heartbeat, I love the song.”  She sat back down beside me after turning the volume down.  “Should I just tell you who I like the most of all the groups I’m personally acquainted with?”

          “Sure.  It’ll kill time.”

          She moved the box of Sharpies and laid on her back, staring up at the ceiling with her hands folded against her belly.  “2PM is Junsu or Wooyoung, Big Bang is, of course, Jiyong, MBLAQ’s Seungho, Super Junior is Sungmin or Eunhyuk, Teen Top is Chunji or L.Joe, and ZE:A would be Jun Young.  I would never tell you U-Kiss, because you would kill me.”

          “Why?  It’s not me?”

          “Oh, it is.  But there’s someone else as well.”

          “I already know who it is.”

          “Don’t tell him.  He’s been begging me for months to know if I’d ever choose him.”

          I chuckled.  “You should tell him to get rid of his gut.”

          “But if he works out too much, he’ll lose his y thighs.”

          “I didn’t really need to hear that.”

          Lizzie giggled and moved to lie on her side, kissing my cheek.  “You have y abs, Hoonie.”

          “Are you just saying that so I’ll forget what you said about Eli hyung?”

          “What I said about who?”

          I wrapped an arm around her, pulling her into my side.  “I love you Li.”

          “I love you, too, Hoon.”  She leaned her head on my shoulder.  “I think it’s good that I can’t go on a date with Joon for now.”

          “Why’s that?”

          “Ji walking back into my life has kind of messed me up Hoonie.  Plus, I’m still grieving for Eomma and Appa.  It’s hell on the heart.”

          I kissed her forehead.  “Don’t worry baby, it’ll be ok.  Either way, you’ll always have me.”

          “I’m so lucky to have you as a best friend, Yeo Hoonmin.  I sometimes feel like I take advantage of you, but that’s why I try so hard to make sure that you’re always ok.”

          I smiled.  “As long as I have you, I’ll be fine.”

          Lizzie laid her hand over my heart.  “I kind of wished you had been there last week when I was telling Jiyong about what happened in the past.  But, I’m really glad you weren’t.”

          “That bad?”

          “You know how I am when the past pops up into my head.  Especially now,” she pressed her face into my neck.

          I rubbed her back.  “It’ll be ok.”

          “Hoonie?”

          “Yeah baby?”

          “Have you been in love yet?”

          I hesitated, but I told her the truth.  “I am right now.”

          “Is she everything you ever hoped for?”

          I smiled, looking at the exact person I was in love with.  “From her silky, long hair to her heavenly smile,” I ran my fingers through Lizzie’s hair.

          “Why haven’t I met her?”

          “I never said you haven’t.”

          “Does she know you love her?”

          “I don’t know.”  Honestly, Lizzie knew I loved her, but I knew she didn’t think of it in the same way I meant.

          “How do you not know Hoonie?  You’ve either said, ‘I love you,’ to her or not.”

          “It’s not that simple Li.  You know that.  What’s brought this up?”

          “I love someone other than Jiyong.  It’s not Joon.”

          “Do I know him?”

          Lizzie hesitated slightly.  “Yes.”

          “Does he know how you feel?”

          “Yes.”

          “Does he feel the same?”

          She sighed.  “I don’t know.”

          “Why not?”

          “It’s complicated.”

          I looked at her.  “Li, you ok?”

          “Yeah.  I just need to call Mir.  I’ll be right back, ok?”

          “Ok.”  I watched her walk out.  “What’s wrong with her?  This isn’t like you, Li,” I murmured.

          She seemed so nervous to be talking to me this way.  Something was definitely messing with her.  But, what was it?